I applied for IBM ISDL Software Role through Campus Placements. The recruitment process was as follows:
1. Written Test: The test was easy. There were two coding questions based on strings. (One was String Compression and the other was String Comparison, questions were modified a little bit than the ones available on GFG.) And 10 MCQ/MSQ were there based on CS fundamentals, Linux commands, and DSA. The duration for the test was 67 minutes.
2. Technical Round: This was the first Interview round. The panelists checked the resume and asked questions based on resume. The interview started with my introduction, and they started asking questions based on my interests and the projects mentioned in my resume. The first project was on C++ programming so they asked questions on C++. I am listing down few questions which I remember:
- Which C++ version do you use? Why?
- What are the differences between C++14 and C++20?
- Few questions on OOP concepts in C++
- Write down a logic for binary search
- Write a code to perform a binary search using recursion
- Modify the above code using iterators
- The time complexity of Binary search, Linear search
- STL-based questions
- What are iterators in C++? What is the range in C++?
Then they moved to the next subject: Operating systems
- What are lightweight processes?
- Difference between process and thread?
- Difference between process and program?
- System calls in OS
- Tell me about the Fork system call. What is the equivalent system call for a fork in Windows OS?
- Which OS do you use? How would you scale your Linux knowledge?
- Difference between Linux and Windows?
- Few Linux Commands
After this, they started asking questions about another project which was based on Web Development.
- Why did you use these particular technologies?
- What knowledge do you have about DBMS?
- Difference between SQL and NoSQL?
- Feq queries like ALTER, DROP, DELETE.
- Is the alias permanent or temporary?
- What is schema? What is the structure of the database used in your project?
And a few random questions :
- What do you know about turning machines? What is finita automata?
- Have you worked on neural networks? What is CNN?
Then I got a call for 2nd interview. It was a technical + HR interview.
- Introduce yourself
- Asked a few questions from the resume
- Project explanation followed by in-depth questions on the project.
- Some questions on UI
- Linux commands like ifconfig, the command to print error log, etc
- Why do you want to join IBM?
- What are your short-term and long-term goals?
- Family background
- What are your expectations from an organization?
- What domains are you interested in? and why?
- Are you willing to relocate?
- How will you learn the required technologies if you get some domain out of your interest?
- What do you know about IBM? Have you visited the IBM website?
The whole experience was good. For both the interviews two panelists were there. In the end, I asked them a few questions about roles, their experience, their learnings from IBM and what was the one thing which inspired them to continue with IBM. They answered all my questions very nicely. Both the interview was for around 45 min.